Understanding Quebec Catholic Records: Difference between revisions

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The main sources of genealogical information in Quebec are the Roman Catholic parish records. They typically record baptisms, marriage and burials, and in some cases, confirmations. They are <u>not</u> direct records of births and deaths. There were no separate civil records for birth, unions and deaths before the 1980s in Quebec. Under the French civil code, priests were required to maintain the civil records.

They are written in French, sometimes in Latin, but as they are written according to some rules and in a specific format, it becomes easy to recognize the main parts of each record and the information they contain. You can read this article about [[Quebec Languages]] to get started. They are also handwritten, and some priests were not much more educated than their parishioners; their handwriting and spelling may be difficult to read. You can usually get decipher them by reading other surrounding records written by the same hand.

As for the events, the priests were referring to their own "territories" in the records, that is, parishes and dioceses. Unless another type of place is specifically mentioned, like a seigneurie or a city, it should be assumed that the places mentioned are parishes. Many parishes in Quebec have the same name, and it is important to consider the geographical location of each parish, and also the year of their coming into existence, before attributing the origin of a person to a specific parish. People did not travel far in those days, and certainly not forward in time.

Unlike the civil land organization, which has evolved through time, parishes have remained constant, with only their geographical and population sizes changed. Some parishes did change name, either following the will of their parishioners (example: Saint-Olivier becoming Saint-Mathias), or to identify them more precisely as one or more parishes had the same saint as patron.

The spelling of both the first names and surnames of people mentioned in the records is very variable. It depends on the degree of literacy of the priests, some spelling according to the "sound" of the name, rather than using a more standard form. The spelling is also influenced by regional variations and by its evolution through time. Given that almost all the French Canadian people were illiterate, it is rarely possible to see how they themselves would spell their name. And the few who could write, were often just trying to copy, using very bad handwriting, what the priest had written in the record.

Important: the Catholic priests always used their maiden name to identify women, unlike the Anglo-Saxon tradition. It was important for them to identify the family of the mother, in order to verify the degree of consanguinity or relatedness. This is of a great help to genealogists.  

Starting in the 18th century, the French language in Quebec started to be written with diacritical marks, or accents, on vowels. These are the "acute" accent (like é), the "grave" accent (like à, è or ù), the "circumflex" accent (like â, ê, î, and ô), the dieresis (like ë and ï). These indicate a different pronunciation for the vowels: the "acute" accent rendering a "closed" sound like "é" (hay), an "open sound like "è" (hell), or an elongated sound like "ê" (hair). The dieresis mark like "ë" served to indicate that the vowel need to be pronounced separately from the preceding one, as in "Noël" (no ell, and not, nwell, as o followed by e would normally be pronounced).

Before that time, the letter "s" was used instead of the accents, appearing after the vowel, depending the following consonant. For example, the surname "Létourneau" used to be written "Lestourneau", "Lemaître" as "Lemaistre", and the first name "Étienne" as "Estienne" (again. closer to the Latin form "Stephanum").

Until the mid nineteenth century, French Canadian families were using more than one surname to designate and identify themselves. It was a way to differentiate the various people bearing the same original surname. This usage started in France, before the colonization of New France, but the practice has been extended significantly in New France. In the 17th and 18th century, priests were usually writing the two surnames separated by the word "dit", meaning something like "also known as" or "said to be". However, as time evolved, the two surnames ended up being used interchangeably and can really be confusing to many genealogists. it is therefore a good practice to mention the two surnames with the form "dit" when identify a person.

The "dit" names have various origins. Sometimes, they were assigned to indicate the region of origin in France for the original settler, like "Parisien" (from Paris) or "Langevin" (from the French province of Anjou). They were also nicknames given to soldiers or sailors, which represented a physical or moral trait of theirs, like "Leroux" (red-haired), "Petit" (small stature), "Lafleur" (flowery, or smooth talker), "Jolicoeur" (nice heart, or good looking, flirtatious).

Catholic priests were very stringent on the importance of children being born of a legitimate marriage. In the case of a child born out of wedlock, they did not mention the name of the parents, simply writing "born of unknown parents", with the first name given to the infant by his or her godparents. Sometimes, one or both parents admitted or recognized being the parent, and the child grew up bearing the surname of the father, if this one came forth, or the mother. It happened that the parents got married after the birth of their child, and they would recognize being the parents at their marriage, legitimizing the birth, and the child could use the paternal surname. However, when none of the parents came forth, or the priest simply refused to mention them, the child could end up being referred only by his or her first name in subsequent records.

The following information can be found in baptism records, depending on the time period of the record<ref>Bouchard, G. & LaRose, A. (1976). La réglementation du contenu des actes de baptême, mariage, sépulture, au Québec, des origines à nos jours. Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, 30(1), 67–84. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.7202/303510ar</nowiki></ref>, and also on the accuracy of the priest and how closely he followed the rules. These rules were dictated by the Catholic Church itself and also by the Civil Authorities, like the King of France, and later on, the provincial government. Some information can nevertheless appear in the records prior to the edict imposing the rule to the priests.

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